Smoke and Mirrors (Rewrite)
by DWTT
Summary: When the Doctor is attacked and obtains serious brain damage, it is up to Donna to help him recover and figure out who wants him dead. Rated T for later chapters.
1. Prologue

Incase you didn't read it from the original copy of this story, this is a rewrite! The more I read the original, the worse and worse becomes xD  
I hope you enjoy this updated version as much, if not more - either way I won't complain! - than the first version.

* * *

_They say that everything happens for a reason._

They say that everything you think is predetermined.

They say that all your choices in life are fate.

So why did she let him leave?

They say that every night has a dawn.

They say that every problem has a solution.

They say that there is always a silver lining.

So why hasn't he woken up?

* * *

I know, it's short, but the chapters will probably be a bit longer and, you know, the plot has been rewritten, a LOT has changed. I hope that's not a bad thing xD


	2. Comatose

Thanks for waiting guys! I know this took a little white to get up, but I've been very busy with work lately.  
What do you think compared to the original first chapter? Better? Worse?  
Your opinions would be greately appreciated :D

* * *

What _time _was it? 4:30? 5:00 in the morning? Either way, it had now been three days. Each one seemed to get longer and longer. Darker and darker. Colder and colder.

All because he hadn't woken up.

They said it could take weeks. Months. Forever.  
Never.  
He might never wake up.

He might never… She lifted her head. Hoping. Wishing. Hoping he'd moved, spoken.  
She should not have hoped again. His chest still rose and fell in a steady rhythm, the slow beat rung, unchanged, in her ears. Sometimes she just wanted to switch the damn thing off and pretend he was just sleeping. But there was no way she was going to fool herself. If only, if only…

A breeze blew through the open window and the scent of the roses on the windowsill made her want to gag.  
The x-rays on the light board only reminded her that they didn't know the extent of the damage. Yet. They were analysing the tests results.  
It was surreal; sitting here, watching him. He didn't get sick. That's how it works. She imagined him suddenly leaping to his feet and proclaiming that it had been some elaborate joke and _almost _smiled.

'_Donna! Donna run!'  
_She groaned and shook away the memories. Concentrating on the past was going to achieve nothing. He wasn't going to improve any faster if she sat around moping, although that was what she did for the majority of the day anyway.  
_  
'… I'm sorry for your loss…'_  
_'… Oh my! I hope he recovers soon…'_  
_'… That's terrible, we're here if you need us…'_  
They were always the same. Every time someone knew asked why she stayed at the hospital all the time, they'd always give the same response.

It had become a routine. Every day at least four or five people would ask, get the same response, give the same response and then leave. Every day the nurse would check in twice and every day she'd ask the same question and get the same answer. No, he hasn't woken up. Every day dragged longer and longer as the tests went back and forth between 'specialists' who 'knew exactly what they were doing'.

She highly doubted it.

As she padded over to the window and slid it open, she thought back to the night the police had shown up on her doorstep. Two of them. She wasn't stupid. She'd knew what that meant. At first she'd thought something had happened to Wilf or Sylvia, but then she let them inside and they started talking about 'John Smith' and she instantly knew that everyone was much worse. She didn't know anyone named John Smith. She only knew the alien with the alias.

Birds were starting to chirp outside her window. A butterfly flitted past. Everything continued as it normally did. She actually found it kind of ironic. Without the Doctor, she had expected catastrophes to start happening all over the world, millions of people to start dying, aliens to invade and destroy whole cities. She had expected pandemonium, but nothing happened.

The world continued as it usually did. Almost like it was before she met him. Serene.  
Normal.  
Horrible.  
She turned around and leaned back against the windowsill, watching the Doctor breathe in a slow, steady rhythm, listening to the slow, single beat of the monitor. Single beat. It should be beating at least twice as fast, but one of his hearts wasn't working and hadn't been working for three days.

Only three days. It had been only three days, after all this time. It felt like it had been so much longer, like she'd been in hospital, like she'd been waiting for an eternity. But reality seemed to warp, slow; stand still when what you wanted most was for it to hurry up.

It had felt like three weeks.  
Months.  
Years.

But it had only been three days.

They said it could take weeks. She couldn't wait weeks. The world, the universe, _all of time and space _didn't _have _weeks.

"You're up early."  
She refocused on the real world, pulling herself out of her thoughts to see a doctor standing by the Doctor's bed. What was his name? Doctor Sullivan.  
"I could say the same thing." She replied airily. He smiled and checked the Doctor's chart.

"I do early shifts these days. You need more sleep Donna,"  
"I'll probably sleep better when I know what's wrong with him."  
This obviously elicited a negative response.  
"Donna, we're trying our best…" She bit back another snarky remark.  
"I know, I'm sorry, I'm just… Worried,"  
"Would it help if I said there's news?"  
Donna narrowed her eyes suspiciously and didn't reply.

Doctor Sullivan didn't seem to know how to take the response, so he just stood there for a few seconds before looking back down at the chart.  
"Erm, right, well, we have the test results back."  
Donna took a step forward eagerly, but there was a nervous nagging in the back of her mind as she did so.  
"… And?"

Doctor Sullivan turned his eyes back to the chart, avoiding Donna's curious, eager gaze.  
"And?"  
"You might want to sit down."  
She hesitated, unsure of what to do, and then eventually walked over and sat in a plastic chair that had taken up residence beside the Doctor's bed.

Doctor Sullivan went over and pointed to the two x-rays on the light board.  
"We had these analysed."  
She already knew that.  
"And the results… Are not good.  
"Just tell me and get it over with."

He frowned, nodded to himself and then started pointing out various areas of the x-ray of the Doctor's brain. He used a lot of words she didn't know or understand and words she most probably couldn't even pronounce and explained how they'd been damaged and what that meant. The list of injuries seemed to go on forever.  
Frontal Lobe: Reasoning, planning, speech, some movement, emotions and problem solving.  
Temporal Lobe: Recognition of sounds, memory and speech.  
Hippocampus: Learning and memory, converting short-term memories to long-term memories.

She was glad she'd sat down.

He wouldn't be able to talk, walk, recognise sounds, remember things… He didn't deserve to have any of this happen to him.  
"And there were more injuries that were not inflicted to his brain."  
The bandages up his arm and the x-rays of his ribs told her that already.  
"I already know about those."

He nodded in response.  
"Right, yes."  
Donna rubbed her eyes.  
"Is that everything?" He nodded again.  
"Thank you,"  
"Look, Donna…"  
He hesitated, frowned, and then after a long silence he looked back down at his clipboard.  
"I want him to wake up too; we just have to be patient."  
It seemed like something odd for him to say, but Donna just thanked him again instead of questioning him, watching him leave without another word.

Had she just imagined that? She glanced up, sure she'd heard a glitch in the beat. There it was again! She got to her feet and approached the bed. His breath hitched. She held her breath for a few seconds, still debating her own eyes when his eyes opened.


	3. Lucid

You have no idea how sorry I am D:  
I haven't updated in like, a year. Or it feels like it's been that long anyway. Urgh.  
I hope the chapter makes up for the wait...

* * *

Time seemed to stand still. Donna stood there, unmoving, as her friend was brought back to reality. Or back to what was left of _his _anyway.  
Moving robotically, she pressed the button beside the bed as his eyes remained on the ceiling, glazed and unfocused.  
Dr. Sullivan's words still hung heavily in the air, and she was replaying them over and over again in her mind as the only sound that permeated the air was the his steady heartbeat, the only movement the flowers on the bedside table. He would have to be retaught how to walk and how to talk. If it was even possible. There was a jump in the heartbeat and Donna was brought out of her reminiscing to see the Doctor's eyes had strayed from the ceiling to her face. He was staring up at her. She smiled, but doubted he understood what it meant.  
"Hey Doctor."  
He narrowed his eyes in response, continued to stare for a few seconds and then just closed his eyes again, remaining silent and motionless. Did he remember her? _Could _her remember her? Did he even comprehend what was going on?

She waited, but his eyes didn't open again until a nurse walked in, perhaps it was the sudden noise, but Donna couldn't quite see that as the whole reason. He continued to stare at the ceiling again, but he still looked lost in his own mind, but then again, he usually was anyway. It was just under different circumstances. The nurse glanced at him, looked shocked for a second and schooled her features into a professional calm.  
"Shall I fetch Doctor Sullivan?"  
Donna nodded and leaned against the railing of the bed, watching as the Doctor blinked slowly and then finally strayed his eyes from the ceiling once more to look at her. His gaze was odd. It seemed more as if he was looking _through_ her rather than _at _her. It was unnerving.

She shook off the unsettled feeling and smiled hesitantly.  
"Hey."  
He gave her no more intricate a response than last time, continuing to just stare at her, with an almost dazed look, his eyes glassy as the doors opened again and Doctor Sullivan strode in.  
Donna glanced at him as he approached.  
"Why isn't he moving or talking or anything?"  
She asked immediately, giving Doctor Sullivan barely any time to walk through the doors. He glanced at the Doctor and then back at her again.  
"He just woke up from a coma; it could take days for him to start talking."

Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she jumped, quickly grabbing it and checking who had just texted her. It was Wilf. She smiled fondly and called the home phone, waiting and hoping he'd pick up, relieved when he did.  
"Donna?"  
"Hey, sorry I didn't call this morning, I know I said I would, but... Something's happened."  
It must have been the way she'd said it, because there was a pause on the other end, and when Wilf spoke, he sounded concerned.  
"Is everything alright?"  
"Hm, what? Oh, yes! Yes, yes, of course, everything's fine. Better than fine."  
There was another pause.  
"Donna, I don't follow,"  
"Oh, right, um. The Doctor's awake."  
He laughed.  
"That's wonderful."

Doctor Sullivan was frowning at the Doctor's chart, and the Doctor himself, who had only moments earlier been gazing at the heart monitor, was now staring intently at Donna. She smiled back, wondering whether he could even understand encouragement any more. She then sighed at her own reminder of the brain damage.  
"Look, I know you're worried just as much as I am, but can I call you later?"  
"Oh, of course, just, help him Donna. He needs it, now more than ever,"  
"Sure."  
She hung up and ran her hands through her hair, watching as Doctor Sullivan helped the Doctor into a sitting position.

His frown had disappeared, so it mustn't have been something particularly bad, whatever had caused it.  
"He's awfully lucid for someone who's only just recovered from a coma."  
He stated, more to himself than to Donna. He put his hands on his hips, took a step back and regarded the Doctor, who had returned to gazing at the heart monitor.  
"Maybe because he's an alien."  
Doctor Sullivan raised his eyebrows and her hands flew to her mouth.  
"I-I mean-"  
Good job Donna. Just casually blurt out something you've managed to keep to yourself the whole time.

She did not expect the reaction she received. Doctor Sullivan stood there, giving her a curious look for a few seconds before shrugging.  
"Most probably. Who knows the extent of the differences between us?"  
Now it was Donna's turn to stare. She'd just told him the Doctor was an alien, and he just took it in stride? She narrowed her eyes suspiciously.  
"You believe me?"  
"Of course; I've known about the Doctor's alien origin for a long time. Much longer than you have I'd wager."  
She was shocked into silence. He knew the Doctor? How come he'd never said so before?

"Why didn't you tell me you know him?"  
He shrugged again, as if discussing the alien in the hospital bed was as normal as chatting about the weather.  
"I never felt the necessity to bring it up. And I didn't know if _you _knew he wasn't human. I don't mean to pry, but do you travel with him?"  
Donna nodded in agreement.  
"Doctor Sull-"  
"Call me Harry."  
He interrupted, stepping closer to the Doctor again to fiddle with the cord going into the his wrist.

Donna paused, shocked again for a second.  
"Ok. _Harry. _Have _you _travelled with him?"  
He hesitated, and then went over to a corner of the room, grabbed a plastic chair and pulled it over to sit beside the bed. Donna sat in the chair she'd moved there three days ago.  
"I have, yes. Many years ago now."  
He smiled fondly at the Doctor, who was now watching her once again. There was something in his eyes Donna couldn't place. Not quite curiosity.

Doctor Sullivan - Harry - glanced at her, and then at the Doctor.  
"That's odd."  
He stated as he stood up and went over to him again. Donna did the same, the Doctor's eyes following her. He waved his hand in front of the Doctor's face, but he didn't as much as blink.  
"Is it possible for him to remember me?"  
He shook his head.  
"No, he can't. The damage is very serious, it's impossible. But you _do _seem to have his attention rather thoroughly. Perhaps he doesn't remember you as such, but his subconscious recognizes you. It's happened before."  
He still sounded dubious, following the Doctor's unwavering gaze. Donna took an experimental step to the left, and his head tilted slightly to follow the movement.  
"How do we tell if he can hear?" She asked, waving her arm in the air. He followed it with his eyes and Harry clicked his fingers right next to the Doctor's ear while he was distracted.

The Doctor flinched away and then proceeded to stare at Harry with a small frown.  
"Well, he can hear, it's probably very limited since he only reacts when the noise is close, but at least it's something."  
It was better than nothing.  
He turned back to staring at Donna again and Harry put his hands on his hips again.  
"Hm."  
He then grabbed the Doctor's chart. Donna gave him a curious glance.  
"What?"  
His eyes flicked to her and then back to the chart.  
"He's conscious, Donna, some of the things on this chart will have changed. It's time to find out what."  
He then spun on his heels and headed for the door. Donna was shocked into stillness for a second. She hesitated, and then quickly followed after him, the Doctor watching her with his eyes. She smiled at him and then closed the door behind her.

* * *

You will also notice that some parts I've kept from the original story. That wasn't an extremely convenient coincidence xD


End file.
